Underrated Christmas Movies + Phetasy Digest
Tinfoil Hats are Back, Tucker loves Qatar, Smart Fridges are Bad for Schizophrenia, the Crusades were Badass, America has a Pill Problem and What are We Gonna Do About it, REAL WORLD to the Dumpster
I spent the past week asking everyone I know for underrated Christmas movies. There are a lot of them. It turns out, everybody has at least one favorite Christmas movie they feel is underrated. I find that fascinating. Is this true of any other subgenre? Different movies feel precious to each of us, shaped by our own experiences. “Underrated” implies community—the people who share a love for the movie. It also means something carries real excellence.
The genre spans drama, slapstick comedy, historical fiction, Christian content, cartoons, big-budget Action romps—Christmas movies cover everything. Even the darkest comedies, like Bad Santa, share one thing: Joy. It’s a sentimental genre. Christmas movies sit inside tradition. They are part of the season’s rituals, often tied to childhood, glowing memories, and a world that feels ancient. That place and that feeling create the essence of a Christmas movie: childlike beauty and innocence.
Whatever your favorite Christmas movie is, it likely carries the same core elements: the supernatural, a moral story, some form of faith, a sense of community. Themes of redemption and sacrifice. There are so many underrated Christmas movies because the genre does not compete on typical film terms. It lives on memory, ritual, and personal timing: Warm light bouncing across the snow, the glow of a fireplace, people gathered, laughing, singing, retelling old stories, again and again.
In the comments below, I listed the most common underrated Christmas movies that people recommended. Let me know which Christmas movie gems I overlooked.
DUMPSTER FIRE - EPISODE #269
It’s The End of The World As We Know It
Everyone’s going crazy. We have Tucker Carlson buying property in Qatar, Bridget wants to buy encyclopedias for when we have to turn off the internet to save humanity, and a woman thought her smart fridge was sending her messages. Uncle Ted was right. Technology is driving us all mad.
WALK-INS WELCOME - EPISODE $368
Freedom is Messy and Hard - John Papola
Dad Saves America podcast host, John Papola, joins Bridget for a wide-ranging conversation about everything from the Crusades to life advice for teenage boys. They discuss John’s career trajectory, how he went from MTV, to Spike TV, to documentary filmmaker and ultimately to starting his podcast after COVID hit, why he wanted to take on harder subjects as topics, why 1998 was the peak of Western Civilization, the truth about the production industry, the coolest project he’s ever gotten to work on, why having children was radicalizing for both of them, and how the centers in our society have a kind of cultural group think that has become completely toxic.
REAL AMERICA WITH BRIDGET PHETASY
America’s Over-Medication Epidemic
America is medicated. Many, me, would say overmedicated. Antidepressants are all the rage now, so much so that influencers are promoting them on TikTok. Are you on meds? Do you wish you weren’t? To be clear, I’m not advocating that anybody suddenly stops taking their meds. But this week our conversation is with Laura Delano, author of Unshrunk: A Story of Psychiatric Treatment Resistance, which chronicles her haphazard diagnosis with bipolar disorder at the age of 14 and the 13 year saga of unending treatments, various diagnoses and a cornucopia of medications that she went through and how she got to the other side to living life med free.’
DUMPSTER FIRE - EPISODE #270
Surreal World 47: How It Started, How’s It’s Going - Dumpster Fire
This is the true story of twelve personalities picked to work for a White House, and have their lives become our content... to find out what happens when people stop being real and start being politicians. THE SURREAL WORLD! DC!
THE SPECTATOR
It’s the cost of living, stupid
The MAGA agenda will only succeed if Americans feel material relief.
AFTER PARTY WITH EMILY JASHINSKY
Why Kids Can’t Handle Free Speech
On this episode, Bridget does the RFK impression lol Bridget and Emily discuss the good and bad of social media, how it can distort reality, and why it’s important to learn how to distinguish real vs fake news. Emily and Bridget then have a conversation about the spectacle that is the Olivia Nuzzi/Ryan Lizza debacle – and if what Lizza is doing really is ‘revenge porn’ as Nuzzi alleges.
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Beyond Parody with Bridget Phetasy is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.
Remember the Night (1940)
Christmas in Connecticut (1945)
The Bishop’s Wife (1947)
The Great Rupert (1950)
Blast of Science (1961)
Black Christmas (1974)
Silent Night, Deadly Night (1984)
The Night They Saved Christmas (1984)
Santa Claus: The Movie (1985)
Scrooged! (1988)
A Wish for Wings That Work! (1991)
The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)
Mixed Nuts (1994)
The Ref (1994)
Jingle All the Way (1996)
Long Kiss Goodnight (1996)
The Family Man (2000)
Tokyo Godfathers (2003)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005)
Rare Export: A Christmas Tale (2010)
The Night Before (2015)
The Man Who Invented Christmas (2017)
Feast of the Seven Fishes (2019)
Klaus (2019)
TRADING goddamn PLACES!!!!
“It was a stone groove my man…”